A Costco Recipe

 Do any of you shop at Costco? We like to call it the hundred dollar store because it seems impossible for me to get out of there for under $100. And it doesn't do me one bit of good to go less often because then I just seem to be making up for all my "missed" visits.

Anyway, thanks to Costco, I think I have perfected the pulled pork sandwich. 

A few years back our Costco started selling a very eclectic variety of salsas under the brand name "Robert Rostchild Farms." They only seem to sell one kind at a time, but they keep swapping them out. In the winter time there is a darker red one that is cranberry-based (I think I haven't actually bought this one), in the summer it is more of a mango thing. A few months back they had a new one that is like pineapple-lime-tequila-coconut . . . yes, all of that is in there. Well, when I saw it, I decided to try it on my pulled pork.

The key to pulled pork is to use something on it that has a fair amount of vinegar. I also like a topping that can be used for pulled pork sandwiches or pulled pork tacos. I'm not a big fan of BBQ sauce, so I never cook it directly in the sauce, but add it later for those that do like it. Also, BBQ sauce burns to the side of your crock pot if it sits in there too long.

So this "recipe" is going to be less effective because it really won't include measurements, but here we go.

Pork roast--any variety. I like my meat a little paler and drier so I usually get a loin roast because it has more white meat on it. Get what you like! I usually get a pretty big one and cook a bunch, freezing the leftovers.

Funky salsa--I highly recommend the pineapple-lime-tequila-coconut stuff from Costco. If you cannot find it, a mixture of green tomatillo salsa and brown sugar is effective

Put the roast and about 1 1/2 cups of salsa in the crock pot on low for about 8 hours. Drain at least part of the juice off. Depending on how fatty your roast is, you don't want your pork soupy when you pull it.

Pull the roast with two forks until it is shredded and then add about another cup of your preferred salsa into the pork, stirring it really well. 

Toppings:

Onions are a must. For a healthy option, pickle a red onion in a cup of vinegar, half a cup of water and a few teaspoons of sugar. Seal the whole thing up in an airtight container, making sure all the onions are covered and leave in your fridge for several hours prior to putting them on your sandwich. For a less healthy option, and a real Southern-style sandwich, try these from Pioneer Woman.

Coleslaw is the next deal-breaker. I discovered coleslaw on pulled pork about two years ago and never looked back. To keep it simple I just buy a bag of shredded coleslaw mix cabbage and stir in a little bit of Lighthouse Brand coleslaw dressing. Again, a more healthy option is to add your cabbage to your pickled onions. It is less sweet and more tangy that way. 

Cilantro. There is a Vietnamese sandwich shop here in town that makes a great sandwich. They put a generous spring of cilantro on top of their sweet pork and pickled veggies.

The bread. I cannot overstate how important this is. Back to Costco and their bakery. You can buy sandwich buns in their bakery at about $5 for a dozen. They are very large and have the perfect texture for this sandwich. Especially when grilled a little bit. Oh. wow.

Plantboy didn't stop there. He added a sharp, creamy white cheddar (also from Costco). I opted out; I don't like cheese on sandwiches generally. He also put a large slice of red pepper right on top--more flavorful than a tomato this time of year. 

This school year I have found that anything that can be cooked in my crockpot is my favorite recipe. I only have one week of school left and dinners have been anything but consistent in recent weeks as I feel like all my domestic endeavors are coming apart at the seams. 

One week to go. I can do this. I can do this.

YummOOOOOHHHH!

I have been meaning all year to send you to my husband's blog. This idea started in January. He is meant to be journaling (at least) weekly and recounting his garden adventures. Prep work. Planting. Growing. Harvesting. Cooking. Canning. And, bless his heart, we thought for two months this spring we might be moving and the garden went in late, then family came to visit twice and summer is his busy season at work. Oh, we are still gardening, and he has taken copious pictures, but the writing part has been a bit neglected. I think he still loves the idea, and maybe with mobile blogging he'll post more regularly. 

After an amazingly successful dinner tonight I decided it was time to post some of this stuff myself. Here I am, complete with the Florence Henson hairflip, the 1950's apron made lovingly by my mother. And barefoot. But decidedly NOT pregnant. Probably I'm just loaded up on good food.

For the 4th of July, the kids did their second annual produce and goodie stand. Jedi Knight worked in the garden for a couple of hours to help Plantboy get everything harvested and ready to go.

This is before the sale. I still have tons of onions, garlic and shallots drying on the back patio that I just use whenever. Because it has been hot this summer, our peas and beans didn't do nearly as well as they normally do, and the potato plant tops died off early, so while there are potatoes in the ground, they aren't really growing. Still, with all the sunshine and heat, the tomato crop is looking to be a bumper one. Every year brings a different experience and new things to learn. I think part of the reason Plantboy enjoys the garden so much is for the challenge of it.

 

 This was last Sunday's dinner offering: Crockpot roast, balsamic pesto, string vegetables over farfalle pasta. The roast was cooked in Plantboy's Italian style stewed tomatoes that he canned last fall. The pesto was made with basil and shallots from the garden. I used a cool shredder tool on three colors of carrots, zucchini and yellow summer squash (all from our garden) for the pasta. The pesto went on top of the pasta and veggies, but they were too pretty to photograph with anything covering them. When you add the vinegar to your pesto it loses some of that pretty green color, but it gains a huge amount of flavor. There are also red peppers in with the veggies, but not ours yet. We still have a couple of weeks to go on peppers. 

 This next meal is Plantboy's fresh caught salmon with two types of quinoa. The veggies include carrots and orange squash (cubed, purchased) that I roasted together in a pan with a teaspoon or two of brown sugar. There is also asparagus and roasted beets. This year we planted nearly all yellow beets because they can be cooked with other food without making everything turn purple!

 This next one is so pretty I could hardly stand to eat it. The meat is from my crockpot cookbook and is called chicken Provencal. Cook the chicken in a can of stewed Italian tomatoes (again, I used Plantboy's) and a can of paste. Add salt, pepper, onions and garlic to taste. About an hour before serving throw chopped red and yellow pepper. In the middle are Israeli couscous. Good luck finding these bad boys, but I think they are worth it. Market of Choice used to sell them in bulk, but this time around we had to buy them in a bag and they were pricey. They are just like huge couscous. They are awesome with Mediterranean food or to make into a lemony-pine nut pasta salad. Hot or cold. Whatever. The veggies here are shredded zucchini and yellow squash topped with fresh Parmesan. I sauteed them in olive oil for about three minutes. Fresh basil. Of course.

Padawan has taken to calling this pie Pentaberry Pie, rather than the traditional Razzleberry pie because it has FIVE different berries. Marion, rasp, blue, straw and black. Awesome. Just awesome. I followed the recipe I posted here before but used a deep dish pie plate and added about 50% more berries and corresponding flour and sugar. I also made a regular dish . . . which, truthfully baked up a little better. But honestly, there were two solid inches of berries in this thing when it was cooled and cut. It was so pretty I wanted to cry. 

 This next meal is boiled garden potatoes--two varieties, just whatever we had, fresh blueberries (picked at a local farm; our garden doesn't produce a lot all at once), green beans locally grown and Plantboy's salmon grilled with a hint of brown sugar and purple onions. His dipping sauce is one we found at Costco. Habenero something or other. I made my pulled pork in the stuff last weekend and it was pretty much the best ever.

 How is a dinner list complete without breakfast-dinner? Eggs and bacon NOT grown in the backyard. Not a real animal person here. Fingerling potatoes boiled for a few minutes and then fried in butter and olive oil with fresh shallot and rosemary. The waffle is a to-die-for liege waffle topped for dinner and not dessert--avocado, strawberries, and feta. There was a drizzle of reduced balsamic and/or olive oil for the waffle too. And if you've never had berries and feta in reduced balsamic, well, then, you aren't a true foodie yet.

 I end up with about ten of these pictures every year. Plantboy gets his carrots all harvested, cleaned and lined up and can't help but take pictures. If you are already growing carrots, then get a packet of COLORED carrot seeds next year. Really. It will make you so happy. And if you aren't growing carrots, then, seriously, get on it. What are you waiting for? These beauties are actually no bigger than my index finger. They were the ones Plantboy pulled up when he had to thin the crop. I didn't peel them (too small); I sauteed them as-is. Tops and everything. So lovely. That is a bit of spinach hanging out over on the side. In April and May we had garden salad just about every night.

  
The only thing from the garden here is probably the purple onion . . . we made these a little early in the season for them to be from our garden. Those are sweet potatoes (or yams or whatever you call the red garnet ones), not carrots. I boiled the s.p. and the red potatoes for a couple of minutes before skewering them. It is okay to point out here that somebody with skewers this organized probably has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Yeah. I know.

 An early strawberry harvest. During June we were picking almost this many about every three days. We picked up at a local u-pick farm also so that there were plenty for jam and smoothies for the next several months.

  
Okay, okay, these next two have absolutely nothing to do with the garden, and everything to do with processed sugar, but they are just so cute. I discovered a new kind of food coloring called color gels that are so much better than regular food coloring. The colors are more vibrant and there is no bitter taste. The Youngling got an Oregon Ducks cake for his birthday and Padawan took a Cookie Monster cake to the Blue and Gold banquet. The best part about Cookie Monster is that he was just as blue inside!

 This little creation is called Jarfait. Plantboy and I had this at a delightful restaurant in Newport in June, and then I came home and made up my own version. It is basically a personal trifle. I layered angel food cake, homemade custard (not too sweet) with blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries from the garden. Oh, yeah, everybody loves a Jarfait.

The kids are getting to be better pickers. This was our u-pick haul in about 45 minutes at the farm. Plantboy found out when they were going to be the most "on" and he came home at lunch one day to help us. Freezer jam for a whole year, baby!

 This has been a wonderful year for our harvest. In every way. Although I'm beginning to feel the pressure that comes from beginning a new job and making life changes, I'm also feeling enormously blessed for the life we have here in Oregon. There is so much to see and do and love here. Happy eating!

Sprint to the Finish

One month of school left. Laying on the beach on Saturday made me realize just how bad my senioritis is. I'm close enough to taste it, and far enough out to feel pretty discouraged at all there is yet to do. Still, I didn't get this far in life by giving up before I was done. I have no doubt that I will finish and finish well. I suppose that might sound prideful, but I think it also comes from long experience in knowing my limitations. 

Still, Plantboy seems to have timing that saves my sanity, and our mini yurt vacation was just what I needed to make it through the home stretch. Despite the horrible head cold I've come down with and the Mount Washmore that I'm still working on, I'm still so glad we went. Here is the run down:

Reading Peter and the Starcatchers while sitting around the smoke. I mean fire. It was smoky because we were working on coals for foil dinners. Add sweet potatoes and a bit of rosemary to your foil dinners next time; you will not be disappointed. I forbade the boys from bringing technology on trip and look what we ended up with: quality family time with a book. Wow. Novel. Yes, of course, the pun was intended. In the background is our yurt. Isn't it cute? Plantboy wants to put one in the backyard. We figure that we'd never see the children again.

 The yurts and the campground were on a lake surrounded by a one mile trail. Just up the hill was the lighthouse and the Pacific ocean. If we cut off and took another "secret" trail we ended up in the sand dunes. And as long as we stayed to our side of the line . . . the ATV's didn't smash my children. They spent about three hours rolling, skiing and somersaulting down the dunes. The sunshine was exhilarating. We didn't get down to the ocean that day, but we weren't far from it.

Coolest kids ever. Okay, not really. But they sure THINK they are. 

It is crazy how much I love these monkeys. Mom missed this picture. I went to the two little nearby towns looking for someone, anyone who was renting a canoe for our lovely little lake. No luck. It was all ATV rentals. Raspberries. Next time, we will find a way to bring a canoe. It would have made this mini trip 100% perfect. The little sticker on The Youngling's shirt celebrates him seeing his first blue whale. We lucked out and this week is near the beginning of the whale migration. Before hitting the dunes we went to the whale watching station up by the lighthouse and saw several "blows." Yeah, it was way cool. 

We eat good even on campout. I made a really delicious (homemade, of course) chicken pot pie filling that we brought with us. When the coals were hot, we threw the mixture in the bottom of the dutch oven and added some tube biscuits to the top (those will be home made next time too). It was really so delicious, especially with a shmear of jam on that top flaky biscuit layer.

Skillet apple crumble. We chopped the apples fresh that night, but I made the topping ahead and brought it in a bag. It needed a bit more topping and fewer coals on the top, but it was still quite delicious.

Though we've lived in Oregon nearly six years, this is only my second sunset over the Pacific. Usually our weather is too cloudy or we leave too early. It was glorious.

Umpqua lighthouse. If you ever get a chance, you have GOT to see this thing at night. It is so bright and alternates red and white beams of light. It was like looking at a carousel with 4 bazillion stars shining through the other side. So lovely.

Enjoying a little nature hike around the lake on our last morning. The Youngling informed Plantboy that he would like to a be tree scientist. Plantboy nearly wept for joy and the proceeded to teach Youngling how to identify various coniferous trees. Guess who has a pine cone collection at her house (and in her dryer) now? That's right! This girl.

We put the bandana on to keep his precious Padawan forehead from sunburning the second day. And he was just so stinking cute. He kept stopping and doing this little hip jiggling thing that kept me in stitches all day. 

The lake. Pristine above. Spoiled by man (boy) below. 

 The beach was a wonderful, if windy choice. Plantboy and I each got to take a long, solitary and much-needed walk. Padawan and the Youngling spent about two hours pretending to be puppies rolling in the sand, and then at least an hour throwing handfuls of mud into the oncoming tide. 

 After the camp clean up and trip to the beach, we convinced the boys to do one more hike. We took the short arm of a loop that can be backpacked down to the ocean. (Plantboy and I are trying to figure out how we can do it on our own in June). They were up for it; truthfully the three of them are getting more fun all the time. We don't have nearly the vacation melt-downs that we used to. The five year old still gets pretty cranky when he is hungry, but even that is getting better. Vacation is still a lot of work, but now it is starting to get FUN again!

 The kids take pictures of the parents. They all turned out blurry or had soembody's head cut off. This was actually the best. Good job camera boys.

 Chillin' with my peeps somewhere between Highway 101 and the Pacific Ocean. In another month, this forest will be ablaze with rhododendrons. I think another day trip will be in order then.

Yurt camping is excellent. We did get rain the first night, but there was no worry that it would hold. And on those cold mornings when you aren't too keen on building a fire because it will warm up soon, the yurt had a small electric heater that was just the thing for a quick warm up. Our yurt was a pretty basic variety, but we are thinking of heading back in the summer with some extended family and renting a couple of the fancier ones. But whether it is this year or not, this will be a vacation we definitely repeat.

What We Ate Part 2

I've just about got Plantboy talked into the garden blog. I think the goal is to begin January first and work through the year. This has been another wonderful week for eating what we grow. The menu changes a lot from early summer to late. Here is the last few days, and the next few:


Tacos: Standard fair, really, but this week with the addition of some awesome guacamole containing tomatoes, peppers and onions from our garden. The cilantro came from a friend's garden.

Red Curry: Had peppers, green beans, carrots, zucchini and onions from the garden. Tried to put it in the crock-pot this time was a bit of a fail, particularly in the case of my poor green beans. Stir fry is far superior.

Pasta Bake and Salad: Nothing fancy in the pasta, but the salad had loads of fresh garden tomatoes. Pasta bake night was also the night of my book group and I made my annual razzleberry pies. They turned out so beautiful. The strawberries and some of the blueberries were ours. We picked the raspberries at a local farm (ours aren't producing well enough to use yet), and the blackberries came from an obliging field just down the street.

Asian Salad: I went to the farmers market for some help with red peppers, pea pods and lettuce.

Plantboy went fishing today and caught a salmon that is probably about 25 pounds. The boys are grossing out in the backyard right now watching him gut the thing. Of course, nobody is forcing them to watch, but I find they quite enjoy gross things. My sweetheart is probably giving them a biology lesson at the same time. It is a good life.

So here is what will come this week:

Salmon: With a side of caprese salad using our basil and Roma tomatoes. I am also going to do an angel hair pasta tossed with tomatoes, basil and peppers. A little olive oil and lemon juice should be adequate sauce with so many other delightful flavors going on. I'm growing an interesting lemon-basil that will be just the thing. I think I will put in some lemon rosemary bread tonight also.

Chicken Pot pie: I have a leftover pie crust from my razzleberry pie for this. It will have carrots and peas and onions from the garden and a mashed potato base--we still have a few mounds that need digging up. A side of green beans and/or a salad. Tomatoes, of course, in the salad.

Shepherd's Pie: I am going to make this because Plantboy grows this funny, stubby little carrots called Tom Thumb carrots that are adorable in stew, and rather too much work (they are hard to cut) for anything else. Onions and garlic from the garden in the gravy. More frozen peas. Mashed potatoes on the top. When the beef is in the crockpot I will do a bouquet garni out of garden herbs to steam with it--basil, rosemary and oregano.


Hungry for the week to begin. If the last two dishes seem a bit heavy, well, it is not even eight o'clock yet and my kids have their jackets on outside. Fall might just be in the air!

What We Ate

I am thinking a lovely blog would involve me writing down what we eat from our garden each day/week and then taking pictures of it.

So many things to do. . . . so little time.

But this is the week in which I say we are really beginning to enjoy the goodness that is living in Oregon. So far this is what we had:

Saturday: Strawberry Julius with copious amounts of garden strawberries.

Sunday: Strawberry-rhubarb crisp. I usually just put in the latter, but Plantboy convinced me to add the berries because he thinks the rhubarb alone is too tart. And, honestly, the strawberries are coming out our ears. We also had balsamic vinegar roasted red and yellow beets. The beets were so tiny and tender and delicious that I nearly cried for joy. We've planted these in waves and I hope to enjoy them all summer long. I was meant to make Pioneer Woman's fried onion strings too, but I kind of forgot. These will have to make the menu later this week. Sweet and tender and crunchy and, oh, boy, they are good. I won't buy onions or garlic or shallots for the foreseeable future. I served two types of potatoes, neither of which are ready yet, but I did garden chives on the mashed sweet potatoes and rosemary in the fried fingerlings. Oh, and there was broccoli too.

Monday: Crispy Asian Salad. I used a combination of lettuce from the garden and store bought. Truthfully, we are a bit at the tail end of our lettuce. The butter lettuce all got to large and bitter. The mixed garden greens are still okay because it has been pretty cool. We've been eating lettuce for probably a month or more. Garden toppings for the salad included onions, colored carrots and strawberries. Okay, Plantboy had strawberries, I thought they were just a little much for the dressing, but he said the dressing was so good that once everything got coated in the stuff you couldn't really tell the difference anyway. Hmm....

Tonight: Lemon Rosemary bread with rosemary from the garden. I am serving a side of carrots with the lemon-cream sauce and grilled chicken, but my own are not quite ready. Yesterday's were a bit premature.  So close.

The brilliant thing about this time of year is just going out and seeing what is ready to pick. It is quite lovely really. Dinner plans shift around more this time of year because it just depends on what is "on." In a week or two I'm going to have so many potatoes that I'll hardly know what to do. Any suggestions for new and delectable ways to use them are welcome.

See wouldn't it make a lovely blog? It would require regular posting, focus to an idea, commitment to taking really good pictures . . . . yeah, so not for me. Maybe it would be a great project for Plantboy.

Breaking Up

I am so over you, Baked Cheesecake.

Do you remember ward parties growing up, and every get together in college, somebody would bring that Jell-O No Bake Cheesecake that tasted, well, like death? Especially when somebody had the brain wave to put a can of hypo-sugar cherries on top of it?

I was actually in college before I tried this horrible stuff. A roommate made it, and I ate it (it was SUGAR, after all), but the whole time I was wearing the you've-got-to-be-kidding me face. You see, the no-bake cheesecake recipe I grew up on is the one that used to be on the back of every can of Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk. Four ingredients. Ease itself. And a family of six who fought like gladiators for the last two pieces in the pie dish.

In fact, I was in college before I even realized there was a thing called "baked cheesecake." I thought cheesecake was my mother's divine simplicity or the Jell-O monstrosity.

Discovering baked cheesecake was like wandering in the wilderness for forty years and finally glimpsing the promised land. For years I have dabbled in different recipes, and I often get it at restaurants on those rare dessert-dates. I sometimes daydream about a springform pan, half a dozen eggs and enough cream cheese to satisfy even my lusts. I have imagined myself pulling the PERFECT cheesecake from the oven, waiting patiently for complete cooling, and serving it to awed guests from far and wide.

Am I crazy?

Perhaps. But that is neither here nor there.

But today. Valentine's Day. I have created the perfect . . . no . . . no. . . you didn't misunderstand. The PERFECT dessert. You never break up unless you trade up.

STM's No Bake Cheesecake

1 graham cracker crust (I did homemade this time; I think it would be divine to use one of those pecan nut-crusts also)
2 bars cream cheese, softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 large lemon
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

Beat your cream cheese with a mixer until it is fluffy and smooth. Slowly pour the sc milk into the cream cheese, continually beating. When it is smooth, add a teaspoon of lemon zest and then 2 Tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice. When the mixture is smooth and blended, pour in the cream, beating for another minute or two until everything is slightly fluffy. Add the vanilla and keep beating until everything is smooth. Spoon it into the crust, making sure to leave behind plenty in the bowl for liberal licking. And I mean VERY liberal.

Chill for at least five hours before serving.

Thank me later.

In other news . . . .

1- My 200-miler is now looking more like a half-marathon in July. We ended up a few short of being able to get a team together. I was rather relieved, truthfully. I started strong and then got sick for three weeks. The last week's exercise has felt a bit like starting over.

2- Our YW New Beginnings program was last Wednesday and it turned out completely cool. I wrote a really sweet little play for our girls to perform and it turned out nearly perfect. E-mail me is you do Young Women stuff in your own ward and want a copy of it.

3- I have braces. Hating that. There will not be pictures.

4- Our Relief Society teacher on Sunday quoted Hugh Nibley. Liberally. I LOVE her.

5- Wicked tickets arrived in the mail this week. Wa-hoo.

The cheesecake was the "frosting" on an amazing dinner (if I do say so myself). If you want more recipes, just let me know. I'm more than happy to share THE BEST CHICKEN EVER. Really.

The Perfect Fall Treat

As it turns out, there is more than one. I

Here are a few samplings. Each of these four pairings has something in common: they each include an ingredient that says "Autumn" like nothing else.

Apples.
Pumpkin.
Tomatoes.
Hazelnuts.

This first is an apple dip that can be made up in about 5 minutes, and everywhere you go, people will want the recipe and guess and guess about the ingredients without getting it right. Jedi Knight loves this stuff so much that when I start buying lots of really crispy new apples this time of year he begins asking for it every day. Years ago, I served it at a book group and when we polished the plate of apples off in about ten minutes, Plantboy came in, and with more than a little snark he asked if we just wanted spoons. I promptly replied, "Yes," and we finished the bowl so thoroughly that you could only hear clinking. We had too much dignity in front of one another to lick the bowl, but I believe if anyone of us had been alone the story might have been very different.

Apple Dip

1. Stir or beat two soft squares of cream cheese until smooth. (There are four here--none of today's pictures are actually mine.)



2. Add half a cup of packed brown sugar, stirring until well blended. The original recipe had a lot more sugar, but I really like being able to taste the cream cheese.


3. Stir in one bag of toffee chips. You can find these at the grocery store in the baking aisle, with the other kinds of chips. Heath sells both plain:


and chocolate covered:


Unfortunately (or not) my grocery store doesn't sell the plain ones. Therefore, we are forced to put chocolate in the apple dip. Too bad.

Any firm apple with some tartness to it works great in this treat. Our favorites are Granny Smiths:



And Yellow Delicious, of which I have to buy about a dozen a week this time of year (also, I said "Granny Smiths" as a plural. Should I say "Yellow Deliciouses?"):





Now wait, don't run to the kitchen just yet. We've got a couple more.




For my book group last week I served apple dip, but I wanted something to go with it. I settled on pumpkin bread. My bread turned out exactly as it was supposed to, and I used this recipe. It was entirely adequate, but not amazing. I cannot even say what it was missing, as the recipe was nearly identical to my zucchini bread, which I love. I even added that not-so-secret pinch of cardamom and it still didn't knock my socks off.


I want a pumpkin bread recipe so great that it makes me want to buy up canned pumpkin in great quantities in the fall so that I have it stockpiled for the off season, or in times of famine. I want it to melt in my mouth and leave me a little bit speechless with joy for the explosion of autumn in my mouth. Still, it was pretty remarkable when topped with the afore-mentioned apple dip. (Face it, dog poop might even be appealing topped with that stuff.) My favorite pairing for sweet bread, however, is with soft, spreadable cheese on it, like Laughing Cow; or in a tribute to my amazing grandmother--a thick slice of cheddar. But I can't bring myself to spread it with butter first the way she does!


This next recipe is for bruschetta. Now don't go scrolling ahead thinking you know all about bruschetta. I'm pretty sure you've never had Plantboy's bruschetta.

You have to start in the spring for his bruschetta--tenaciously hitting local nurseries for odd, heirloom tomato varieties. You have to plant them at exactly the right moment. It must be early enough for them to have the season to ripen, but late enough that the last spring freeze doesn't do in your tender starts. You must also put them in exactly the right spot. They need loads of sun, but you don't want to burn their leaves either. You must water and dig about them with organic fertilizer. You must whisper sweet nothings to them each long summer day.



Okay, maybe not the last, but I swear that is what Plantboy does.

I've had a half a dozen people this year tell me that they have NO tomatoes. Nada. Zip. Our vines are so full that Plantboy has taken to freezing them while we make time to can them.

When your heirloom and red tomatoes are ready to go, then you are ready to create Bruschetta that will make you believe any course beyond appetizer is over-rated.


Plantboy's Garden Bruschetta

2 cups chopped tomatoes (use a variety of types for colors and textures. Grape tomatoes, sliced in circles, are especially lovely!)



2 Tbsp really good olive oil. Costco sells an amazing one, when you unscrew the lid, it smells like a rich combination of flowers and fruit. I always feel like such a geek when I open it and just stand there for a few seconds, transfixed by the wonder and possibility of that smell.



3 tsp balsamic vinegar--the good stuff, old and syrupy

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (and while we are at it, we should just admit that any recipe containing the words "chopped fresh basil" is going to be awesome, and make your kitchen smell awesome. Please put this in your garden next year if you are able. Even the plainest spaghetti from a jar can pass for special if you add this crucial herb.)



3 diced shallots (we've discovered that using shallot instead of garlic still gives a wonderful, garlicky flavor without overpowering the tomatoes as much as raw garlic. And without giving you breath that could drive away any lurking vampires or eager spouses. If you like garlic, throw in a clove or two on top of the shallot, or instead of. I'm not fussy; it is YOUR food, after all.)




Fresh ground black pepper to taste (a LOT! I used to use more salt to flavor things, but the problem with using salt in plant-based dishes is that it causes the food to lose its moisture. The plant cells lose moisture to surroundings that are too salt. This causes the cell membranes to sag against plant cell walls, resulting in limpness. Even vegetables that aren't overcooked go limp if they are salted. Put the salt on the table instead of IN stir-frys, salsas, veggie side dishes, etc.)

Toss everything together and pair with french or artisan baguettes that have been drizzled with olive oil and browned in a broiler. It is just so good.



As for the last dish, you heard me correctly when I said "hazelnuts." These delicious nuts are a real Oregon favorite, and most of the hazelnuts in the world come from the filbert orchards right here in the Northwest. This one might not be quite as easy to have at your house, but I would like to point out that the offer to visit still stands.

This pairing is so awesome because besides hazelnuts,


it also includes, you guessed it, chocolate.


Hazelnut Fudge Ice Cream with Brownies

I have to admit to having no recipe for hazelnut ice cream. There are several recipes on-line, most of which include some cocoa in them, making them pale brown in color.



We bought a locally made hazelnut icecream that has swirls of fudge in it and chunks of hazelnuts. Think tin-roof-sundae-on-speed. I do, however, have a divine brownie recipe:


1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar

2 eggs (room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips or nuts (or both!)

Preheat oven 350 degrees, Grease an 8 inch square pan. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt butter. Add cocoa and stir until blended. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Stir in vanilla, flour and salt, stirring until just blended. Fold in nuts and/or chips. Spread in prepared pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Don't worry, they'll still be very soft!




Oh, good grief, I'm hungry.